Military dog question for DarrinGreene and others with military dog experience

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Military dog question for DarrinGreene and others with military dog experience

In the recent thread about a retired military dog needing a ride it mentioned he was 6 years old.

At six years old a trial dog would be coming into his own and be nearing the peak of his lifetime performance. Is it common for military dogs to retire this early? Can you guess about the age military dogs reach retirement? What would be the usual reasons for retirement?

Howard NiemiYou really gotta be careful about how high a pedestal you put your method, your accomplishments, your dog on. There's usually someone who's done more, somewhere. And they may have used a different method than you did! Chris Atkinson 2013

I sold one to K2 2 years ago. They told me that dogs are constantly re evaluated after each deployment. It was explained to me that the dogs work much harder than we work them. Think about it, they are out in sometimes extreme heat for more than just a 10 minute burst.

There could be a laundry list of reasons as to why a dog is "retired" at 6 from a military program. I know of some six year old dogs having had 3 deployments already and quite frankly their heart isn't in it anymore. As the military contracts somewhat they will age out dogs sometimes offering them to other agencies or putting them up for adoption. We do have dogs six and older that are still deployable, but for the most part these dogs are being allowed to find a couch and maybe a duck or two for a well earned retirement.

These dogs lead a very physical, stressful life. And while they are given the best of care, the fact remains they face hardships and stresses much the same as the young men and women we send overseas. A trial dog in comparison leads the life of a pampered couch potato Dogs can be retired for health reasons, environmental issues, psychological issues, competency issues or simply plain excess numbers.